Gap

The tour starts here, well it doesn't figuratively or in practice but at some point they will fly past and be gone in seconds. The small matter of getting the hire car then driving from Nice to Gap - 150 miles. Easy to underestimate how big France is. Due to pick up the car at 10 at a nearby hotel. 5 minutes walk but already it was sweltering. Manager was a friendly guy (though I'm sure that's part of the job description) from Martinique who had lived for 20 years in Montreal. Got a little Quebec travel advice. Car sorted, time to negotiate the busy Cote d'azure motorways. Decided to take a hit on the tolls rather than the shorter but slower direct route. The small matter that somewhere along the way there seemed to be a road closure sealed the deal. Once beyond the main urban areas the roads cleared - Google took a detour to cut out a dog leg on the motorway which was a bit tortuous. Made it to Gap with a couple of hours to spare. Checked in to the Uber budget hotel - no air con. Argh. Walked into town to find the route - opted to head up the very lowest if the lower slopes of the days first climb. Found a shady spot. Turned out the race wasn't too far away. The saying goes that the French would cheer on a monkey on a bike and there were definitely a few characters around us like that. Every sponsor's car was getting rowdy responses. Each to their own. Chatted to a lady from Oxford whose husband had headed further up. The race was split into 3 groups and the slope slowed them a little. Once done wandered into town to see if there was anywhere to watch the culmination of the stage - other than a couple of bars there was not. Found some ice cream. Headed back for a rest out of the sun but the room was stifling. Eventually resorted to the car - took a drive to the beach at exactly the same time the hoardes were descending from the race. Something of a queue towards the lake. Was pretty enough but the water didn't look too inviting so back for tea.Read more